Ercole de’ Roberti - Pietà - Google Art Project

Ercole de' Roberti (c. 1451 – 1496), also known as Ercole Ferrarese or Ercole da Ferrara, was an Italian artist of the Early

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (800 BC to AD ...

and the School of Ferrara. He was profiled in

Vasari Giorgio Vasari (, also , ; 30 July 1511 – 27 June 1574) was an Italian Renaissance Master, who worked as a painter, architect, engineer, writer, and historian, who is best known for his work '' The Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculp ...

's '' Le Vite delle più eccellenti pittori, scultori, ed architettori''. __NOTOC__ The son of the doorkeeper at the Este castle, Ercole later held the position of court artist for the Este family in Ferrara. According to Vasari: Paintings by Ercole are rare. His life was short and many of his works have been destroyed.

Works

By 1473, Ercole had left Ferrara and was working in

Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label=Emilian language, Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 1 ...

in the studio of Francesco del Cossa. According to Vasari, Ercole also apprenticed under

Lorenzo Costa Lorenzo Costa (1460 – 5 March 1535) was an Italian painter of the Renaissance. Biography He was born at Ferrara, but moved to Bologna by his early twenties, and was probably influenced by the Bolognese School. However, many artists worked in ...

in Bologna, but this seems unlikely as he was Lorenzo's senior by several years. Vasari was likely confusing him with Ercole da Bologna or Ercole Banci. Ercole's first mature works are his contributions to the Griffoni Chapel for the

San Petronio Basilica The Basilica of San Petronio is a minor basilica and church of the Archdiocese of Bologna located in Bologna, Emilia Romagna, northern Italy. It dominates Piazza Maggiore. The basilica is dedicated to the patron saint of the city, Saint Petronius ...

: a predella depicting the '' Miracles of St Vincent Ferrer'' (c. 1473) (now in the Pinacoteca of the Vatican), and lateral pilasters for the altarpiece commissioned from del Cossa. Ercole de' Roberti is known to have collaborated in the frescoes of

Palazzo Schifanoia Palazzo Schifanoia is a Renaissance palace in Ferrara, Emilia-Romagna (Italy) built for the Este family. The name "Schifanoia" is thought to originate from "schivar la noia" meaning literally to "escape from boredom" which describes accurately ...

. In 1480, Ercole created a large altarpiece with a '' Madonna and Child Enthroned with Saints'' for Santa Maria in Porto in

Ravenna Ravenna ( , , also ; rgn, Ravèna) is the capital city of the Province of Ravenna, in the Emilia-Romagna region of Northern Italy. It was the capital city of the Western Roman Empire from 408 until its collapse in 476. It then served as the ca ...

, which is now in the

Pinacoteca di Brera The Pinacoteca di Brera ("Brera Art Gallery") is the main public gallery for paintings in Milan, Italy. It contains one of the foremost collections of Italian paintings from the 13th to the 20th century, an outgrowth of the cultural program of ...

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

. Portraits of

Giovanni II Bentivoglio Giovanni II Bentivoglio (12 February 144315 February 1508) was an Italian nobleman who ruled as tyrant of Bologna from 1463 until 1506. He had no formal position, but held power as the city's "first citizen." The Bentivoglio family ruled over Bo ...

and Ginevra Bentivoglio attributed to Ercole de' Roberti (c. 1480) are in the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. Ercole succeeded Cosmè Tura as court painter to the Este family in Ferrara around 1486. His role apparently went far beyond making art: he accompanied Alfonso d'Este on a papal visit to Rome, served as wardrobe manager for Isabella d'Este's wedding in

Mantua Mantua ( ; it, Mantova ; Lombard and la, Mantua) is a city and '' comune'' in Lombardy, Italy, and capital of the province of the same name. In 2016, Mantua was designated as the Italian Capital of Culture. In 2017, it was named as the Eur ...

, and may even have made salamis. A painting of ''Portia and Brutus'' (c. 1486–90), believed to be painted for Eleonora of Aragon, duchess of Ferrara, is in the Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, Texas and is thought to belong to a series which also includes '' The Wife of Hasdrubal and Her Children'' and '' Brutus, Lucretia and Collatinus''. Ercole's painting of ''Saint Jerome in the Wilderness'' from this period is in the collection of the

J. Paul Getty Museum The J. Paul Getty Museum, commonly referred to as the Getty, is an art museum in Los Angeles, California housed on two campuses: the Getty Center and Getty Villa. The Getty Center is located in the Brentwood neighborhood of Los Angeles and fea ...

, Los Angeles. The Getty presented the first monographic exhibition of Ercole's work in 1999. At The

Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum The Thyssen-Bornemisza National Museum (in Spanish, the Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza (), named after its founder), or simply the Thyssen, is an art museum in Madrid, Spain, located near the Prado Museum on one of the city's main boulevards. I ...

in Madrid there is a small panel from a ''cassone'' or wedding chest attributed to him. From around 1480 it narrates an episode of

Ovid Pūblius Ovidius Nāsō (; 20 March 43 BC – 17/18 AD), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a contemporary of the older Virgil and Horace, with whom he is often ranked as one of the th ...

's famous ''

Metamorphoses The ''Metamorphoses'' ( la, Metamorphōsēs, from grc, μεταμορφώσεις: "Transformations") is a Latin narrative poem from 8 CE by the Roman poet Ovid. It is considered his ''magnum opus''. The poem chronicles the history of the ...

'', ''The argonauts leaving Colchis''.

References

External links

The J. Paul Getty Museum: Ercole de' Roberti'Pieta' at the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, UKInformation on ''St. Jerome in the Wilderness''
J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles.

{{DEFAULTSORT:Roberti, Ercole de 1450s births 1496 deaths People from Ferrara 15th-century Italian painters Italian male painters Painters from Ferrara Italian Renaissance painters